‘Rune Factory 5’ will have gay marriage in Western release – NME

Marvelous has announced a release for Rune Factory 5 in the West, which will include same-sex relationships and marriages for the first time in the series.

The action RPG and life sim hybrid is confirmed to launch on Nintendo Switch on March 25, 2022 in Europe and Australia, while the game releases slightly earlier on March 22, 2022 in the US.

While it was briefly shown during the Nintendo Direct last night (September 23), a full English trailer today (September 24) confirms that Rune Factory 5 will let players develop same-sex relationships, a feature that was missing from the original Japanese release earlier this year.

Players can develop relationships, and eventually marry any of the marriage candidates as either the male or female protagonists, Ares and Alice, with the choices reflected not just through in-game dialogue options but also in new anime cutscenes.

“Same-sex relationships have been a long time requested feature within the Rune Factory franchise, and so we are ecstatic to finally reveal its inclusion within Rune Factory 5“, reads a statement from Marvelous.

Same-sex relationships were a feature also included in the localisation of 2020 remake Story Of Seasons: Friends Of Mineral Town, the series which Rune Factory had spun-off from.

Unlike that farming life-sim series, Rune Factory 5 also features action RPG combat as players embark on an adventure as part of a peacekeeping force called Seed, where they will explore dungeons and defeat monsters, alongside nurturing farmland and building relationships in the town of Rigbarth.

Other highlights from the Nintendo Direct include the long-awaited gameplay reveal for Bayonetta 3, while N64 and Sega Mega Drive games are coming to the Switch Online service as an expansion pack. Banjo-Kazooie is also officially coming to the Nintendo Switch as it is part of the planned titles for Nintendo Switch on line.